Conduzir o banquete da vida: a presença feminina na obra de Muriel Spark

Pós-graduação em Letras - FCLAS

Transformaciones territoriales y análisis geográfico en ámbitos patagónicos de montaña : La comarca andina del paralelo 42

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales en esta parte del Sur del país obedece en especial a dos circunstancias de distinta índole. La primera vinculada a la investigación y su potencial trascendencia teórica y práctica en contextos académicos y profesionales interesados por comprender las características de la instalación humana en ámbitos sujetos a importantes cambios. La segunda responde al desenvolvimiento incierto de las comarcas andino patagónicas frente a hechos, propuestas y proyectos referentes a cuestiones de decisiva impronta regional. Se trata de territorios en plena gestación identitaria, donde es habitual lo dubitativo y confuso, aún desde perspectivas históricas y literarias, que son en las que normalmente se asientan las raíces regionales. En los recientes años '90 y en concordancia con los ajustes propios del nuevo orden mundial, se observan re-acomodamientos locales inscriptos en modalidades que obligan a la revisión profunda. Modalidades postmodernas que pueden identificarse como espacios de consumo. Es la condición cultural la que imprime nuevas estructuras espaciales de fuertes proyecciones anímicas enraizadas en lo simbólico y lo estético, donde las transformaciones se suceden a partir de una resignificación de la naturaleza. Desde allí es que se hacen planteos hipotéticos en busca de explicaciones, atendiendo a las valorizaciones que existen para con la Patagonia Andina. Aquellas que implican una preeminencia singular de los aspectos afectivos y emocionales por sobre los económicos, aunque con el turismo como el vector principal de transformación y a cuyo derredor se entremezclan situaciones conflictivas. Es ésta la dirección del análisis que busca esclarecer dudas a partir de la producción de conocimiento geográfico con sentido 'examinador' de la realidad. Fenómenos como los de dispersión, neoruralidad y fragmentación espacial, se muestran como los resultados más visibles en materia paisajística y con ello estamos ante un marco problemático y complejo. Con la sistematización de una significativa cantidad de información involucrada y una fuerte carga empírica proveniente de la convivencia profesional de varios años con la mayor parte de los problemas abordados, se presenta un aporte al cuerpo teórico de la Geografía preocupada por los ámbitos montanos, así como también su proyección hacia la explicación geográfica regional y su eventual insumo para el Planeamiento y la Gestión Territorial. Se analiza el conjunto territorial ofreciendo una perspectiva integradora en escenarios novedosos que, desde nuestra disciplina pueden abordarse con la posibilidad cierta de orientar una importante cantidad de estudios sectoriales que ya se manifiestan, en particular por requerimientos políticos. Con la Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42 en el foco del análisis, la tesis se abocó a incursionar en la realidad andino patagónica, identificando, sistematizando y valorando los conflictos de estirpe territorial como camino explicativo.

Transformaciones territoriales y análisis geográfico en ámbitos patagónicos de montaña : La comarca andina del paralelo 42

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales en esta parte del Sur del país obedece en especial a dos circunstancias de distinta índole. La primera vinculada a la investigación y su potencial trascendencia teórica y práctica en contextos académicos y profesionales interesados por comprender las características de la instalación humana en ámbitos sujetos a importantes cambios. La segunda responde al desenvolvimiento incierto de las comarcas andino patagónicas frente a hechos, propuestas y proyectos referentes a cuestiones de decisiva impronta regional. Se trata de territorios en plena gestación identitaria, donde es habitual lo dubitativo y confuso, aún desde perspectivas históricas y literarias, que son en las que normalmente se asientan las raíces regionales. En los recientes años '90 y en concordancia con los ajustes propios del nuevo orden mundial, se observan re-acomodamientos locales inscriptos en modalidades que obligan a la revisión profunda. Modalidades postmodernas que pueden identificarse como espacios de consumo. Es la condición cultural la que imprime nuevas estructuras espaciales de fuertes proyecciones anímicas enraizadas en lo simbólico y lo estético, donde las transformaciones se suceden a partir de una resignificación de la naturaleza. Desde allí es que se hacen planteos hipotéticos en busca de explicaciones, atendiendo a las valorizaciones que existen para con la Patagonia Andina. Aquellas que implican una preeminencia singular de los aspectos afectivos y emocionales por sobre los económicos, aunque con el turismo como el vector principal de transformación y a cuyo derredor se entremezclan situaciones conflictivas. Es ésta la dirección del análisis que busca esclarecer dudas a partir de la producción de conocimiento geográfico con sentido 'examinador' de la realidad. Fenómenos como los de dispersión, neoruralidad y fragmentación espacial, se muestran como los resultados más visibles en materia paisajística y con ello estamos ante un marco problemático y complejo. Con la sistematización de una significativa cantidad de información involucrada y una fuerte carga empírica proveniente de la convivencia profesional de varios años con la mayor parte de los problemas abordados, se presenta un aporte al cuerpo teórico de la Geografía preocupada por los ámbitos montanos, así como también su proyección hacia la explicación geográfica regional y su eventual insumo para el Planeamiento y la Gestión Territorial. Se analiza el conjunto territorial ofreciendo una perspectiva integradora en escenarios novedosos que, desde nuestra disciplina pueden abordarse con la posibilidad cierta de orientar una importante cantidad de estudios sectoriales que ya se manifiestan, en particular por requerimientos políticos. Con la Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42 en el foco del análisis, la tesis se abocó a incursionar en la realidad andino patagónica, identificando, sistematizando y valorando los conflictos de estirpe territorial como camino explicativo.

Transformaciones territoriales y análisis geográfico en ámbitos patagónicos de montaña : La comarca andina del paralelo 42

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales en esta parte del Sur del país obedece en especial a dos circunstancias de distinta índole. La primera vinculada a la investigación y su potencial trascendencia teórica y práctica en contextos académicos y profesionales interesados por comprender las características de la instalación humana en ámbitos sujetos a importantes cambios. La segunda responde al desenvolvimiento incierto de las comarcas andino patagónicas frente a hechos, propuestas y proyectos referentes a cuestiones de decisiva impronta regional. Se trata de territorios en plena gestación identitaria, donde es habitual lo dubitativo y confuso, aún desde perspectivas históricas y literarias, que son en las que normalmente se asientan las raíces regionales. En los recientes años '90 y en concordancia con los ajustes propios del nuevo orden mundial, se observan re-acomodamientos locales inscriptos en modalidades que obligan a la revisión profunda. Modalidades postmodernas que pueden identificarse como espacios de consumo. Es la condición cultural la que imprime nuevas estructuras espaciales de fuertes proyecciones anímicas enraizadas en lo simbólico y lo estético, donde las transformaciones se suceden a partir de una resignificación de la naturaleza. Desde allí es que se hacen planteos hipotéticos en busca de explicaciones, atendiendo a las valorizaciones que existen para con la Patagonia Andina. Aquellas que implican una preeminencia singular de los aspectos afectivos y emocionales por sobre los económicos, aunque con el turismo como el vector principal de transformación y a cuyo derredor se entremezclan situaciones conflictivas. Es ésta la dirección del análisis que busca esclarecer dudas a partir de la producción de conocimiento geográfico con sentido 'examinador' de la realidad. Fenómenos como los de dispersión, neoruralidad y fragmentación espacial, se muestran como los resultados más visibles en materia paisajística y con ello estamos ante un marco problemático y complejo. Con la sistematización de una significativa cantidad de información involucrada y una fuerte carga empírica proveniente de la convivencia profesional de varios años con la mayor parte de los problemas abordados, se presenta un aporte al cuerpo teórico de la Geografía preocupada por los ámbitos montanos, así como también su proyección hacia la explicación geográfica regional y su eventual insumo para el Planeamiento y la Gestión Territorial. Se analiza el conjunto territorial ofreciendo una perspectiva integradora en escenarios novedosos que, desde nuestra disciplina pueden abordarse con la posibilidad cierta de orientar una importante cantidad de estudios sectoriales que ya se manifiestan, en particular por requerimientos políticos. Con la Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42 en el foco del análisis, la tesis se abocó a incursionar en la realidad andino patagónica, identificando, sistematizando y valorando los conflictos de estirpe territorial como camino explicativo.

North Caucasus: the Russian Gordian knot. The key problems and conflicts in the region and the effect thereof on the future of Russia; Putin after re-election: The Kremlin's policy in Vladimir Putin's second term. OSW Study 16/2004

North Caucasus: North Caucasus is the most instable part of the Russian Federation: since the early 90's, there has been going on the military conflict in Chechnya, which is gradually spilling over into the other republics of the region, terrorism seems to have occupied its regular position in the political life of Caucasus, organized crime is flourishing, the tension persists there and military incidents and attacks are breaking out every now and again. During the recent year, the destabilization of the region, which affects many fields of Russian political and social life, has grown to an alarming size. Putin after re-election: Vladimir Putin's first term as President was a period of submitting political, regional and economic lobbies to the Kremlin. The actions Putin has taken since being re-elected are aimed at consolidating the Kremlin's control over the political, economic and social spheres. Further liquidation of political and informational pluralism, an increase of the ruling group's control over state and private property, and an intensification of state propaganda aimed at generating social support for the Kremlin's initiatives have all proceeded apace. These processes reinforce authoritarian tendencies and strengthen the emerging monocentric political system, with the President's strong domination over political, economic and social life.

Beliefs and Conflicts in a Real World Multi-Agent System

In a real world multiagent system, where the agents are faced with partial, incomplete and intrinsically dynamic knowledge, conflicts are inevitable. Frequently, different agents have goals or beliefs that cannot hold simultaneously. Conflict resolution methodologies have to be adopted to overcome such undesirable occurrences. In this paper we investigate the application of distributed belief revision techniques as the support for conflict resolution in the analysis of the validity of the candidate beams to be produced in the CERN particle accelerators. This CERN multiagent system contains a higher hierarchy agent, the Specialist agent, which makes use of meta-knowledge (on how the con- flicting beliefs have been produced by the other agents) in order to detect which beliefs should be abandoned. Upon solving a conflict, the Specialist instructs the involved agents to revise their beliefs accordingly. Conflicts in the problem domain are mapped into conflicting beliefs of the distributed belief revision system, where they can be handled by proven formal methods. This technique builds on well established concepts and combines them in a new way to solve important problems. We find this approach generally applicable in several domains.

How Were Conflicts of Interest Handled?

Conflicts of interest were potentially great but they were minimized by the great conviction from both Doctors and Health Ministry that something had to be done to improve data on perinatal health. To decrease the number of hospitals where deliveries took place, to concentrate doctors, nurses and equipment, to define staff and to acquire equipment and to train nurses and paediatricians was the way. One the point of view of cost-effectiveness, centralization of expensive technologies, and development of expertise concentrating cases in a same centre - Surgery, VLBW, etc- and lowering mortality rates and get better outcomes were clear health gains. In 1989 after the political decision of closing small maternities the committee return to villages and cities to explain to political local power and people, the decision, which kind of care they will have in the future, why and expected gains. Level I hospitals and Health Centers stop to have deliveries; Health Centers were given a great responsibility: the follow up of the most part of the normal pregnancies by GP. There was no economic pressure because the National Health Service is free, there are no economic incentives for obstetrical or neonatal care, hospitals are financed through ICD, hospital level is defined according to both delivery and newborn care. In 1989 the rule was “No results can be obtained without the interested and responsible participation of all – institutions and people”. At that time the emphasis was on training. There are geographic influences on regionalization for example for islands and inner and far geographic areas. Also we would like to emphasize the influence of demographics on regionalization. As birth rate continues to decrease the hospitals left open 20 years ago with more than 1500 deliveries have to be closed now because the number of deliveries decreased. It was much more difficult and unacceptable to close some few maternities now than 20 years ago. All the difference was that at that time reasons were explained and now it was a Minister order. Other fearful events are the opening of private hospitals, the lowering gross national income, the economic difficulties and financial problems.

The investigation of deaths in custody: a qualitative analysis of problems and prospects.

The right to be treated humanely when detained is universally recognized. Deficiencies in detention conditions and violence, however, subvert this right. When this occurs, proper medico-legal investigations are critical irrespective of the nature of death. Unfortunately, the very context of custody raises serious concerns over the effectiveness and fairness of medico-legal examinations. The aim of this manuscript is to identify and discuss the practical and ethical difficulties encountered in the medico-legal investigation following deaths in custody. Data for this manuscript come from a larger project on Death in Custody that examined the causes of deaths in custody and the conditions under which these deaths should be investigated and prevented. A total of 33 stakeholders from forensic medicine, law, prison administration or national human rights administration were interviewed. Data obtained were analyzed qualitatively. Forensic experts are an essential part of the criminal justice process as they offer evidence for subsequent indictment and eventual punishment of perpetrators. Their independence when investigating a death in custody was deemed critical and lack thereof, problematic. When experts were not independent, concerns arose in relation to conflicts of interest, biased perspectives, and low-quality forensic reports. The solutions to ensure independent forensic investigations of deaths in custody must be structural and simple: setting binding standards of practice rather than detailed procedures and relying on preexisting national practices as opposed to encouraging new practices that are unattainable for countries with limited resources.

Prevalence and factors of intensive care unit conflicts: the conflicus study.

RATIONALE: Many sources of conflict exist in intensive care units (ICUs). Few studies recorded the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors for conflicts in ICUs. OBJECTIVES: To record the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors for conflicts in ICUs. METHODS: One-day cross-sectional survey of ICU clinicians. Data on perceived conflicts in the week before the survey day were obtained from 7,498 ICU staff members (323 ICUs in 24 countries). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Conflicts were perceived by 5,268 (71.6%) respondents. Nurse-physician conflicts were the most common (32.6%), followed by conflicts among nurses (27.3%) and staff-relative conflicts (26.6%). The most common conflict-causing behaviors were personal animosity, mistrust, and communication gaps. During end-of-life care, the main sources of perceived conflict were lack of psychological support, absence of staff meetings, and problems with the decision-making process. Conflicts perceived as severe were reported by 3,974 (53%) respondents. Job strain was significantly associated with perceiving conflicts and with greater severity of perceived conflicts. Multivariate analysis identified 15 factors associated with perceived conflicts, of which 6 were potential targets for future intervention: staff working more than 40 h/wk, more than 15 ICU beds, caring for dying patients or providing pre- and postmortem care within the last week, symptom control not ensured jointly by physicians and nurses, and no routine unit-level meetings. CONCLUSIONS: Over 70% of ICU workers reported perceived conflicts, which were often considered severe and were significantly associated with job strain. Workload, inadequate communication, and end-of-life care emerged as important potential targets for improvement.

Violations of children's rights in armed conflicts : international treaties, observations by peacekeepers and crisis management training in Finland

Ninety-nine Finnish peacekeepers, who had been serving in 15 different operations around the world, participated in the study (8 women, 27-52 years old, m = 37.4, SD = 8.9; and 91 men, 21-69 years old, m = 41.4, SD = 10.2). Three military crisis management trainers from the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre also participated in the study. The data was collected with two webbased questionnaires. In addition two interviews were made with specialists of civilian crisis management in Finland. The study also provides an overview of international treaties concerning children’s rights in armed conflict. The results show that 48.7 % of dangers for children in conflicts reported by the peacekeepers were related to physical injury (e.g. landmines and traffic), and 27.4 % were related to social problems (e.g. poverty, child soldiers, and trafficking). 24.1 % of the peacekeepers had made observations of children’s rights violations either often or very often during peacekeeping operations. 49.6 % of the observations were related to social problems (e.g. child labour or being forced to beg), and 33.0 % were related to physical injury (e.g. assault). Frequency of observation of children’s rights violations was not associated with either sex or military degree of the peacekeepers; instead it was significantly correlated with the peacekeepers’ degree of knowledge of EU’s child protection guidelines. On the basis of the results, it is recommended that knowledge about children’s rights and protection should be included in the training of Finnish crisis management personnel to a much higher degree than at the present.

Mediterranean ecosystems: problems and tools for conservation

Mediterranean ecosystems rival tropical ecosystems in terms of plant biodiversity. The Mediterranean Basin (MB) itself hosts 25 000 plant species, half of which are endemic. This rich biodiversity and the complex biogeographical and political issues make conservation a difficult task in the region. Species, habitat, ecosystem and landscape approaches have been used to identify conservation targets at various scales: ie, European, national, regional and local. Conservation decisions require adequate information at the species, community and habitat level. Nevertheless and despite recent improvements/efforts, this information is still incomplete, fragmented and varies from one country to another. This paper reviews the biogeographic data, the problems arising from current conservation efforts and methods for the conservation assessment and prioritization using GIS. GIS has an important role to play for managing spatial and attribute information on the ecosystems of the MB and to facilitate interactions with existing databases. Where limited information is available it can be used for prediction when directly or indirectly linked to externally built models. As well as being a predictive tool today GIS incorporate spatial techniques which can improve the level of information such as fuzzy logic, geostatistics, or provide insight about landscape changes such as 3D visualization. Where there are limited resources it can assist with identifying sites of conservation priority or the resolution of environmental conflicts (scenario building). Although not a panacea, GIS is an invaluable tool for improving the understanding of Mediterranean ecosystems and their dynamics and for practical management in a region that is under increasing pressure from human impact.

Mediterranean ecosystems: problems and tools for conservation

Mediterranean ecosystems rival tropical ecosystems in terms of plant biodiversity. The Mediterranean Basin (MB) itself hosts 25 000 plant species, half of which are endemic. This rich biodiversity and the complex biogeographical and political issues make conservation a difficult task in the region. Species, habitat, ecosystem and landscape approaches have been used to identify conservation targets at various scales: ie, European, national, regional and local. Conservation decisions require adequate information at the species, community and habitat level. Nevertheless and despite recent improvements/efforts, this information is still incomplete, fragmented and varies from one country to another. This paper reviews the biogeographic data, the problems arising from current conservation efforts and methods for the conservation assessment and prioritization using GIS. GIS has an important role to play for managing spatial and attribute information on the ecosystems of the MB and to facilitate interactions with existing databases. Where limited information is available it can be used for prediction when directly or indirectly linked to externally built models. As well as being a predictive tool today GIS incorporate spatial techniques which can improve the level of information such as fuzzy logic, geostatistics, or provide insight about landscape changes such as 3D visualization. Where there are limited resources it can assist with identifying sites of conservation priority or the resolution of environmental conflicts (scenario building). Although not a panacea, GIS is an invaluable tool for improving the understanding of Mediterranean ecosystems and their dynamics and for practical management in a region that is under increasing pressure from human impact.

Emerging agricultural hydrology problems in post-conflict Libya

This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing emerging agricultural hydrology problems in post-conflict Libya. Libya is one of the most arid regions on the planet. Thus, as well as substantial political and social changes, post-conflict Libyan administrators are confronted with important hydrological issues in Libya’s emerging water-landuse complex. This paper presents a substantial background to the water-land-use problem in Libya; reviews previous work in Libya and elsewhere on water-land-use issues and water-land-use conflicts in the dry and arid zones; outlines a conceptual framework for fruitful research interventions; and details the results of a survey conducted on Libyan farmers’ water usage, perceptions of emerging water-land-use conflicts and the appropriate value one should place on agricultural-use hydrological resources in Libya. Extensions are discussed.

Conflicts of law and the mutual recognition of same-sex unions in the EU

My thesis uses legal arguments to demonstrate a requirement for recognition of same-sex marriages and registered partnerships between EU Member States. I draw on the US experience, where arguments for recognition of marriages void in some states previously arose in relation to interracial marriages. I show how there the issue of recognition today depends on conflicts of law and its interface with US constitutional freedoms against discrimination. I introduce the themes of the importance of domicile, the role of the public policy exception, vested rights, and relevant US constitutional freedoms. Recognition in the EU also depends on managing the tension between private international law and freedoms guaranteed by higher norms, in this case the EU Treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights. I set out the inconsistencies between various private international law systems and the problems this creates. Other difficulties are caused by the use of nationality as a connecting factor to determine personal capacity, and the overuse of the public policy exception. I argue that EU Law can constrain the use of conflicts law or public policy by any Member State where these are used to deny effect to same-sex unions validly formed elsewhere. I address the fact that family law falls only partly within Union competence, that existing EU Directives have had limited success at achieving full equality and that powers to implement new measures have not been used to their full potential. However, Treaty provisions outlawing discrimination on grounds of nationality can be interpreted so as to require recognition in many cases. Treaty citizenship rights can also be interpreted favourably to mandate recognition, once private international law is itself recognised as an obstacle to free movement. Finally, evolving interpretations of the European Convention on Human Rights may also support claims for cross-border recognition of existing relationships.

Militarism, conflicts and indiscipline in police practices in the State of São Paulo during the First Brazilian Republic

This article examines the challenges involved in the process of police militarization and implementation of police discipline in the State of São Paulo during the First Brazilian Republic (1889 to 1930). The implementation of a militarized police model, initiated by the 1906 French Military Mission, was not fully able to deal with indiscipline issues among policemen. Beyond creating problems of its own, such as fostering a corporatist culture and strengthening rigid hierarchies, military discipline prevented police forces to address new issues that would affect its practices. Documents in the São Paulo State Public Archive provides a window to the daily violence, the personal compromises, the institutional conflicts and the political meddling that was part of police life in the State of São Paulo at the turn of the century.